It happens that sometimes your system may have the wrong time zone or want to change the time zone due to the nature of working or forgot to set the correct time zone at the time of installing the Debian operating system.
In this post, we will see how to change the timezone in Debian 10 / Debian 9.
Change Time Zone in Debian 10 / Debian 9
We can change timezone in two ways,
1. Using /etc/localtime file
2. Using timedatectl command
1. Using /etc/localtime File
In this method, we will use /etc/localtime (link to the original time zone file) file to set the timezone for your system. This method will work on all Debian versions, including old ones.
Check the current time zone using the date command.
date
Output:
Sun Jan 11 09:42:31 UTC 2020
You can see that my system has been configured with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
As I said earlier, the /etc/localtime is a link to the original timezone file. You can check the symbolic link using the following command.
ls -al /etc/localtime
Output:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Nov 21 20:21 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/UTC
The /usr/share/zoneinfo/ directory contains all the timezones. Beneath that you can find directories specific to a country or zone. Example: /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/directory contains American time zones.
ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/
Output:
Adak Campo_Grande Eirunepe Iqaluit Merida Porto_Acre St_Johns Anchorage Cancun El_Salvador Jamaica Metlakatla Port_of_Spain St_Kitts Anguilla Caracas Ensenada Jujuy Mexico_City Porto_Velho St_Lucia Antigua Catamarca Fortaleza Juneau Miquelon Puerto_Rico St_Thomas Araguaina Cayenne Fort_Nelson Kentucky Moncton Punta_Arenas St_Vincent Argentina Cayman Fort_Wayne Knox_IN Monterrey Rainy_River Swift_Current Aruba Chicago Glace_Bay Kralendijk Montevideo Rankin_Inlet Tegucigalpa Asuncion Chihuahua Godthab La_Paz Montreal Recife Thule Atikokan Coral_Harbour Goose_Bay Lima Montserrat Regina Thunder_Bay Atka Cordoba Grand_Turk Los_Angeles Nassau Resolute Tijuana Bahia Costa_Rica Grenada Louisville New_York Rio_Branco Toronto Bahia_Banderas Creston Guadeloupe Lower_Princes Nipigon Rosario Tortola Barbados Cuiaba Guatemala Maceio Nome Santa_Isabel Vancouver Belem Curacao Guayaquil Managua Noronha Santarem Virgin Belize Danmarkshavn Guyana Manaus North_Dakota Santiago Whitehorse Blanc-Sablon Dawson Halifax Marigot Ojinaga Santo_Domingo Winnipeg Boa_Vista Dawson_Creek Havana Martinique Panama Sao_Paulo Yakutat Bogota Denver Hermosillo Matamoros Pangnirtung Scoresbysund Yellowknife Boise Detroit Indiana Mazatlan Paramaribo Shiprock Buenos_Aires Dominica Indianapolis Mendoza Phoenix Sitka Cambridge_Bay Edmonton Inuvik Menominee Port-au-Prince St_Barthelemy
Now, create a link with the desired time zone file. In my case, it is the Central Standard Time (EST) timezone. Chicago falls under the CST time zone.
You can link either the City or the Zone to /etc/localtime.
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central /etc/localtime
OR
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Chicago /etc/localtime
Verify the timezone using the date command.
date
Output:
Sun Jan 11 03:42:55 CST 2020
2. Using timedatectl command
In this method, we will use the timedatectl command to change the time zone in Debian. This method will only work on the latest versions of Debian.
Let us check the current time zone using the date command.
date
Output:
Sun Jan 11 09:44:50 UTC 2020
You can see that my system has been configured with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Use the following command to list all time zones.
sudo timedatectl list-timezones
Output:
Africa/Abidjan Africa/Accra Africa/Addis_Ababa Africa/Algiers Africa/Asmara . . . . . . Pacific/Pohnpei Pacific/Port_Moresby Pacific/Rarotonga Pacific/Saipan Pacific/Tahiti Pacific/Tarawa Pacific/Tongatapu Pacific/Wake Pacific/Wallis UTC
You can filter the output with the city nearer to you or the continent. Chicago falls under the CST time zone.
sudo timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i chicago
OR
sudo timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i america
Output (For City):
America/Chicago
Set the timezone using the following command.
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
Verify the new timezone using the date command.
date
Output:
Sun Jan 11 03:45:37 CST 2020
Conclusion
That’s All. I hope you were able to set the correct time zone in your Debian 10 / Debian 9 system. Please share your feedback in the comments section.
